19 moments you didn't see on TV during the MTV VMAs

The 2018 MTV Video Music Awards took place Monday at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

INSIDER was at the show Monday night to see all the moments that didn't make it on air. From the audience thinking Cardi B brought her baby to the show to Aretha Franklin's awkward tribute, keep reading to see the moments you didn't see on TV at the VMAs.

1/

Before the show began, the stage crew was practicing the setup for Ariana Grande's performance one last time.

I thought they were setting up for a surprise performance at the show's start. Nope!
Kirsten Acuna/INSIDER

A few items were wheeled on stage for, what appeared to be, an opening number. Instead, it looked like the crew was just practicing the rollout of multiple stage items for Grande's performance of "God Is a Woman" later in the evening.

2/

An offensive stand-up comic kicked off the show.

You can't see him here, but here's how the stage looked before the show began.
Kirsten Acuna/INSIDER

Ten minutes before the show started, a comedian from "Comedy Cellar" took the stage and started making uncomfortable jokes about women and the dresses they were wearing and cocaine.

Some of the things said included:

"Oh yeah, she's got a hell of a body." "Look at all those ladies over there — looks like a brothel." "I am getting a small erection from the ladies." "Not sure why they hired me."

As far as I could tell, he never introduced himself and no one else near me seemed to know who he was. MTV shouldn't have even bothered bringing anyone on stage, since we were only a few minutes from the show and most people were still heading to their seats.

3/

The audience was chowing down on free food and drinks courtesy of MTV.

Here's the food menu and one of the candy bar set ups that was available to those in attendance. I didn't see anyone with chicken fingers, but many people took the popcorn.
Kirsten Acuna/INSIDER

Everything was complimentary if you were at the VMAs. Food ranged from hot dogs and chicken fingers to waffle fries. If you ordered a drink, you may have gotten a souvenir cup with a VMA logo on it. But unless you got there early, you were waiting in long lines.

4/

Throughout the show, there were projections of the show on the walls of Radio City.

Here's Nicki Minaj early on the show.
Kirsten Acuna/INSIDER

It made it a lot easier to see speakers' faces as they took the stage.

5/

The audience was convinced Cardi B was going to show off her baby at the start of the show.

MTV promised a huge opening from Cardi B during the show's opening. As she went to the stage moments before the show began, people saw her carrying a large bundle in her arms and started screaming. People in the room were convinced Cardi was going to show off her daughter, Kulture.

You may have heard cheers from the pit, but it was a huge letdown when she revealed an MTV Moon Person. It was a bigger bummer when Cardi B sat down and Shawn Mendes started randomly performing. It seemed like Cardi was going to open.

Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj could be seen talking to each other during commercial breaks.

Ariana Grande was seen whispering in Nicki Minaj's ear.
MTV

The two were only a few seats away from one another. After Minaj took the stage to accept her award for hip hop, the two could be seen chatting.

If you were watching online, the stream kept a camera on the two singers as they chatted out in the open. The footage made fans immediately wonder what the two were whispering about.

9/

Here's how Nicki Minaj's performance looked to viewers at home.

Audiences may have loved Minaj's mix of tunes, but it wasn't received the same way at Radio City.MTV

Minaj performed a medley of "Majesty," "Barbie Dreams," and more songs. It just wasn't live during the VMAs. You can watch her performance here.

10/

At the show, it wasn't so glamorous. Attendees had to watch it all on a screen in the center of the room.

The Oculus is pretty far from the Radio City Music Hall venue. The star clearly didn't leave the room to fly all the way downtown in a commercial break. Minaj could be seen on wall projections and in the room's center.
Kirsten Acuna/INSIDER

MTV promised a big performance from Nicki Minaj, but her entire five-minute showstopper took place in NYC's Oculus near the World Trade Center. There was no way Minaj made it downtown from the very heavily policed Radio City venue in minutes, especially when she was seen during commercial breaks speaking with Ariana Grande.

It wasn't the only performance the audience watched on a screen that night.

The entire opening of Travis Scott and Post Malone's performances were shown on screens to the audience at Radio City.
Kirsten Acuna/INSIDER

As viewers at home watched the start of Travis Scott's performance in a spaceship-like object and Post Malone in a onesie on TV, the crowd at Radio City watched the starts of those performances on screen, too. It took away from the show a bit.

12/

During commercial breaks, crew members came out to do a quick clean sweep of the floor.

There were a few people that went across the stage.
Kirsten Acuna/INSIDER

Those in the audience didn't have to sit in silence. There was always music pumping in the room.

13/

Jennifer Lopez was the first performer of the night to get the audience up on their feet and dancing during her 10-minute medley.

Jennifer Lopez performs onstage during the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on August 20, 2018 in New York City.
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

When J.Lo told the audience to jump during her song "On the Floor," they listened. A good majority of the audience all got on their feet for the rest of her performance to sing along. It also may have been tough to hear on TV, but at one point members of the audience started chanting, "J.Lo."

No one at Radio City Music Hall heard anything Shawn Mendes said when he took the stage to present Jennifer Lopez with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.

People had no idea Mendes was speaking until Lopez went back to the stage to accept her award.
MTV

You heard him fine on television, but the audience was under the impression the show was cutting to a commercial break when Mendes took the stage to introduce the Video Vanguard Award to Lopez. Mendes' audio was cut and all people inside Radio City saw was his face projected on walls speaking.

It was a surprise when Lopez went back to the stage immediately after her performance, out of breath, to accept the award.

15/

Ariana Grande's brother Frankie was her seat filler and was having the time of his life.

The "Big Brother" star was dancing every chance he could. Here he is dancing to J.Lo.
MTV, Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Frankie Grande could be seen next to Pete Davidson during J.Lo's medley and his sister's performance of "God is a Woman." He was tough to miss in the crowd in a sparkly multi-color zip-up. Much of the time he could be seen standing up and dancing.

When he wasn't in his sister's seat, he sat near Camila Cabello.

16/

The Olivia Munn and Keegan-Michael Key jokes fell flat in the room.

No one seemed to get what they were doing.
Theo Wargo/Getty Images

The "Predator" actors took the stage and playfully swapped the lines they were supposed to read from the prompter. No one in the room was laughing.

17/

Before Madonna took the stage, the crowd saw about a minute tribute to Aretha.

It seemed like this was going to go on a bit longer.
Kirsten Acuna/INSIDER

That was met to a lot of applause before Madonna came out on stage to present the award for video of the year.

It wasn't just people online. People at Radio City also weren't sure how to react to Madonna.

But this time time, people in the audience were starting to file out.
Theo Wargo/Getty Images

The room just was eerily quiet as people didn't know how to react to Madonna's speech that was about her career starting out and some inspiration Franklin's music provided in those days. People online were much more vocal about Madonna's outfit and 10-minute long speech.

19/

Aretha Franklin's "Respect" was cut short in the theater.

If you're going to play the song, play the entire thing.
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

The song played out the credits of the show, but as soon as the credits ended the music cut in the venue. More disappointing was that the song was immediately replaced by different tunes.